Many people know the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple by casting out the money changers in the book of Matthew. He went in very angry, threw over their tables, presumably scattering and/or damaging their belongings, and chased out people and animals with a whip. Recently, there have been protests in the US regarding the executive office. Some of the protesters have smashed windows and set things ablaze in their anger. These protester have been largely shunned by most people regardless of their political views. This brings to mind a few questions:
1. What is the difference between Jesus' actions toward the money changers and the protesters' actions toward the political eatablishment?
2. Is destruction of property an act of violence?
3. Is destruction of others' property ever justified?
4. Are the destructive protesters behaving in a Christ-like manner in any way?
Christ will also physically return at the end of the age to kill all the armies of the world who are coming against God's people, after already unleashing worldwide judgements that kill most of the inhabitants of the earth, before instituting His thousand year period of His reign over the earth.
But you wouldn't be able to suggest that someone who initiates worldwide nuclear holocaust is morally equivalent to Christ.
The reason? God is the creator and judge of all things. Only He has both the perfectly good character, all knowing capacity, and right as one who took the sins of the world on Himself to judge people according to what is truly right and wrong - and then to execute judgement based on that in accordance with what is right.
It's the difference between righteous anger and unrighteous anger.
You can't be righteously angry at someone if they aren't actually doing anything that is wrong in God's eyes.
Conversely, to be angry at someone for doing something that is not wrong in God's eyes would be unrighteous anger.
Further distinctions can be made:
Righteous anger is directed at true injustice, out of concern for others.
Unrighteous anger is born out of selfishness, seeing people or things as a barrier to getting what you want. It also often has to do with an ungodly desire to be in control of yourself, other people, and circumstances, rather than submit to God.
Some have suggested the money changers in the temple were essentially robbing the people, taking advantage of them, in order to enrich themselves at the expense of people who were trying to obey God's law (ie. Making people buy their animals to sacrifice, falsely claiming what the people brought wasn't good enough).
One thing is for sure: They cared more about making money than serving God and the people in the temple. As a result, they were making a mockery of God's holiness with their disregard for the Temple's sanctity and purpose.
Contextual differences as well:
Jesus's actions accomplished a specific purpose. It wasn't just random - It was a necessary act as part of the feast of unleavened bread. This feast requires people to put out all the leaven (a representation of sin) out of their home before the feast of passover. Jesus went to His home (as God) and drove out the leaven, the sinful activities, during the feast of unleavened bread prior to passover.
Jesus, as the one and only righteous judge, had the ability and right to drive people out of the temple for their wrongs. Afterall, you're talking about someone who will one day judge the earth in a way that will see most of it's inhabitants killed because they are so unrepentently evil - If he is capable of doing that in righteous judgement, he is certainly capable of such a minor thing as righteously judging some people in the temple as committing evil and driving them out for that.
So the question that has to be asked about these lawless protestors is: What are they righteously angry at, and what righteous purpose is served by random acts of destruction and violence against otherwise innocent people?
The answer is nothing to both of those questions.
They are servants of satan. Satan's only purpose is to kill, steal, and destroy. He is lawless.
